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The executive director for Festival du Voyageur says the celebrations have begun.

Darrel Nadeau, formerly from La Broquerie, says support for the festival comes from all over Manitoba.

"I am from La Broquerie so I am actually inviting a huge contingent of my family from La Broquerie to come to Festival. We are going to be about 75 Nadeaus there so that will be pretty cool. It is a regional festival, it is the biggest winter festival in western Canada so we definitely have a lot of support from all over."

Nadeau says in previous years Festival du Voyageur put on mini events in small towns across Manitoba and he is hoping they can start up that tradition again in the near future.

"It would be interesting to bring Festival du Voyageur or components of it to different communities, in fact, I am in discussions with Summer in the City in terms of trying to collaborate with them and bring some kind of Francophone component to that. We want to not just expect people to come to Festival but also bring elements of Festival and Francophone culture to rural areas."

Nadeau says he really doesn’t want to lose the historical focus that Festival du Voyageur does so well.

"The Festival du Voyageur is really about celebrating joie de vivre and francophone, Metis and First Nations culture and heritage so it is very important that we keep that alive all while having fun. We have a lot of different things going on but the core of Fort Gibralter is the history of the fur trade."

Verse of the Day

“And you, my child, will be called a prophet of the Most High; for you will go on before the Lord to prepare the way for him, to give his people the knowledge of salvation through the forgiveness of their sins, because of the tender mercy of our God, by which the rising sun will come to us from heaven”